4 Mystery Villains The Marvel Movies Have Already Set Up

Spoiler Alert!

After a huge set piece like Avengers: Endgame, viewers are wondering what’s next? How do you top that?

Sure, the Black Widow prequel is coming out soon, and the Disney+ world has listed a number of projects, such as Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, and my personal favorite: What If?

While these projects are fantastic, they lack the structure that the Avengers movies lent to the world. Everything was built around the Avengers, Thanos, and Hydra. This kept everyone up-to-date on the same basic story. We forget that Thanos was introduced in the first Avengers movie.

Who’s the next villain that can unify the Marvel world against them? Will it be the Mandarin, who will make his first appearance in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings? After all, hints of his existence were dropped all the way back in the first Iron Man movie, which started it all.

However, I have a few more ideas of villains that could easily be introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The Maestro

This book is phenomenal. Check it out.

The Maestro is the smart Hulk turned evil. First appearing in 1992, The Maestro has all of the Hulk’s brutality and all of Banner’s intellect. He rules an alternate future and carries dead heroes’ weapons as trophies, such as Captain America’s shield and Wolverine’s claws.

The finale of Endgame sets this up perfectly. We have a smart Hulk using a time travel device. It was Banner’s decision to create the “Time Blip” that brought people back, but didn’t change things. What unforeseen circumstances did he mistakenly create? What better way to bring in one of the most dangerous villains the Marvel Universe has ever known?

 

 

Kang and the Young Avengers

The Young Avengers was a team that stepped up after the Avengers were disassembled. Each member had some link to an official member. However, it was not in the way you would think. Variations of this team have already been introduced:

Hawkeye: Clint Barton’s daughter was already seen teaching his daughter how to shoot. He called her Hawkeye and that character will be the star of her own Disney Plus series.

Wasp: Ant-Man’s daughter was shown all grown up in Endgame, and able to take on her father’s role.

 

Yeah, this Sean Astin-looking kid could be a super villain.

 

 

Iron Lad: The Young Avengers’ answer to Iron Man was a teenaged boy from the future. It turns out that he’s a teenaged version of Kang the Conqueror. Kang is someone who travels throughout time, amassing armies, weapons, and power. Kang had been collecting younger versions of himself from various timelines. This particular one didn’t want to grow up to be a monster so he escaped through time. He tried to find the Avengers to get help, but found the team had disbanded, so he started his own team. This could be Harley Keener, the prodigy that helps Tony Stark in Iron Man 3 and shows up at his funeral.

This collects the first stories.

Hate Monger

If there was ever a time for us to need to see Captain America punching out hate, it’s now.

First appearing in Fantastic Four 21, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the Hate Monger was a hooded figure who manipulated people into fighting each other. In his first appearance, it turns out that the Hate Monger was actually a clone of Adolph Hitler. Future incarnations have different people under the hood.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has already introduced the Red Skull and Nazi Germany, so there’s not much of a stretch to have another step in this direction. They have also showed how an organization like Hydra can infiltrate every level of American life. Even Arnim Zola, who appeared in the Captain America movies, played a role in keeping Hitler clones and the Hate Monger alive.

This collection includes the first appearance of Hate Monger.

 

This is the first appearance of Hate Monger.

 

The Void

Robert Reynolds was a homeless man battling addiction, with gaps in his memory. As it turns out, he was one of the world’s most influential heroes, the Sentry, with powers that would take too long to list. In the course of his career, he cured the Hulk, and made Peter Parker a famous photographer, and basically made everyone’s lives better.

But no one remembers this. That’s because the Sentry had a dark half called the Void. In order to keep the Void at bay, Dr. Strange and Reed Richards had to wipe out the memories of everyone who had ever seen the Sentry.

In other words, the Sentry and the Void could be behind the scenes of every Marvel movie so far. He could have helped the Hulk cure himself, prevented Thanos, and everything else, but it had to be undone because the Void was even worse than what transpired.

 

 

Who Wrote This?

I did. My name is Chris Lundy, and I also write short stories, children’s books, comic books, gaming stuff and YouTube comedy and things like this:

The Only Problem With The Birds Of Prey Movie

“Birds Of Prey And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn” lit Gotham up with a Harley-signal. It was funny when it was supposed to be. Had good action when it was supposed to. And most importantly, the plot flowed entirely out of the decisions of the characters. Sometimes they were moral decisions. Sometimes they were immoral decisions. But their decisions all had ramifications later.

It also felt right. That’s something a little harder to quantify. But it felt the way a Harley-led movie should feel. Chaotic, disjointed, vulgar, random (especially when she would narrate and think people could hear her narration).

So, ignore the hate that’s being heaped on this movie because a small portion of the population want to see a female-led movie fail.

Cassandra Cain

There was one character who was…well…out of character. That was Cassandra Cain. In the comics, Cassandra’s parents are assassins. Her mother, Lady Shiva, is one of the few hand-to-hand combatants that can give Batman trouble. Her father made sure no one spoke around her so that she would learn to read her foe’s body language to predict their next move. So, she only learns to speak once she joined the Batfamily and becomes Batgirl.

The Cassandra Cain in the Birds of Prey movie is a street-smart kid with amazing sleight of hand and questionable foster parents. Really, they should have called her Stephanie Brown the entire time. This is the real name of Spoiler, Robin’s one-time girlfriend and daughter of the third rate villain Cluemaster. Spoiler eventually becomes Batgirl, too.

The personality and backstory given to the movie character fits Stephanie Brown much better, and I’m sad they can’t now introduce the comic book version of Cassandra Cain into the DC cinematic universe.

Oracle

I was going to say that the lack of Oracle was sorely missed. My favorite Birds of Prey has Barbara Gordon. But then I realized that shoving her into a movie with a lot of other characters would do her a disservice. It would be better to give her enough screen time to really shine.

You have to leave something for a sequel, after all…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who Wrote This?

I did. My name is Chris Lundy, and I also write short stories, children’s books, comic books, gaming stuff and YouTube comedy and things like this Choose Your Own Adventure:

Titans Live Action Trailer: What The F#(& Is Warner Bros. Thinking?

Remember the 90s? When comics were all dark, and the gimmick was “grim and gritty?”

Apparently this is still with us.

They managed to take everything fun and unique about the Teen Titans and turn it into a generic super hero story.

Even the use of the F word is generic, since it’s been in almost every modern X-Men movie.

Movies and shows are supposed to be different from each other. Batman is dark. Spider-Man is funny. X-Men have multiple continuities that are confusing.

Teen Titans had its serious moments, particularly with Terra. While some could argue the animated Teen Titans were too silly, I don’t mind. It makes me smile. It’s fun, and that’s what comic book movies should be.

Meanwhile, I watched the trailer for Teen Titans Go To The Movies three times in a row. And one of those was with my 11-year-old.

What I Hope To See In Avengers: Infinity War

Besides just hoping beyond hope that the movie will be as good as it looks, there are some things I really want to see in Avengers: Infinity War.

Cameos: Presumably, the movie is going to end with a cliffhanger where Thanos blinks half the heroes out of existence. Therefore, they need to recruit some more for the next movie. I hope that the final scene, or the after-the-credits scene, is of Nick Fury trying to recruit someone. You don’t see who they are in the beginning, then the camera pans out to show Patrick Stewart and Halle Berry. Also would be good to see Ian McClellan or Hugh Jackman there. This would make everyone go nuts. Colossus would be a good choice, too, because it would hint that maybe Deadpool would be in the next one. Or, you could have Deadpool leaning on the window of the X-Mansion looking in, with a sign that says “I want to be in the crossover, too!”

Room To Breathe: With this many characters, it’s going to be hard to give them enough room where the whole movie doesn’t feel rushed. At this point, they are all established, so we don’t need to waste time on reminding people who they are. Captain America: Civil War did a good job of having a lot of characters and still feel true to them all. This would be the next step.

A Simple Plot: Screenwriters try to dazzle us with labyrinthine plots (later Pirates of the Caribbean movies), to show how smart the villain is (Batman Vs. Superman). These usually fall flat. Thankfully, Thanos is not known for his subtlety. Following the MacGuffin that has been weaving through the entire MCU since the first Captain America movie should be enough.

DC Missed Out On Marketing Wonder Woman To Girls

The Wonder Woman movie was great, and it brought scores of new fans to the character. However, DC failed to capitalize on this movement by promoting a pretty generic DC Super Hero Girls comic instead of a real Wonder Woman story.

The Wonder Woman movie had Diana dealing with her high principals in a murky world, kicking the asses of Nazis and gods and tanks (if tanks have asses). There were kids – boys and girls – posing with the 3D posters at the theater.

Unfortunately, there’s none of that kick-ass strong woman in the kids marketing for DC. For a long time, it seemed that any comic book marketed to kids had to have almost no violence, and of course no sexuality, and no complex storyline.

The DC Super Hero Girls described Wonder Woman this way: “the Amazon warrior and princess who has never left her home on Paradise Island until now! In order to be the best Super Hero she can be, Wonder Woman has to juggle classes, new friendships, and seeing a boy for the first time – at the most elite school in the galaxy.”

I’m not kidding. Here’s the picture:

Ares isn’t the villain. He shows up and they hug or something.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to devalue the hard work of the people who put this comic together. It’s not a terrible book. It’s a breezy read, and the art is fun. But if you leave the theater expecting more of the same, you will be highly disappointed.

Wonder Woman was the first super hero movie my 10-year-old daughter had ever seen. She only wanted to see it because there was a girl kicking butt. So, she read this comic and was OK with it and moved on. She read it once and it really didn’t jive with her.

Instead, I loaned her this:

 Buy it here:
JLA Vol. 5 (Jla (Justice League of America))
This is a great story, and told perfectly. Wonder Woman has to share some screen time with her teammates, but she’s definitely more like the character that is in the movie.

In this one, a hapless mortal accidentally unleashes the Queen of Fables into the real world. Being a creature of fiction, her power is fed by imagination. She is fueled by fairy tales and horror movies and anything else writers can think of (and writers can think of some pretty messed up stuff). She mistakes Diana for her nemesis, Snow White, and casts a curse on her. The League has to travel into the world of myth, where Wonder Woman’s lasso of truth has great power.

Add to this, the fact that the team is hobbled by a lack of trust after Batman betrayed them with ways to defeat to them all. This lack of trust got worse as they faced off against Destiny and eventually, their alter egos and super hero personas got split and took on lives of their own.

During Mark Waid’s run on JLA, it felt like there was something cool happening on every page. And Bryan Hitch was able to make it happen.

My daughter eagerly read this graphic novel and loved it. It was more of the kick-butt girl she wanted.

This mistake isn’t new. When the very first X-Men movie came out, all the heroes from the movie were on different teams and Magneto was dead. I was working at a comic book store at the time. People came in looking for something like the movie for their kid, and I had trouble recommending something. Mostly because every issue of every comic back then was part 7 of a 14-issue story arc.

Comic companies have to remember the time decades ago when comics were all ages and reached a variety of fans. There’s a way to write so that kids can have that “gosh wow” feeling of cool action, and older readers can dig into the more sophisticated backstories.

Book Cover or Movie Poster?

Strolling through the Greeting and Reading store in the Baltimore area, I noticed a trend in book covers. Many of them featured a hero – young enough to be a teen, serious enough to be an adult – in the middle of some apocalyptic wasteland or fantasy world.

 

I’m not the first person to notice all the dystopian fiction in YA lately, but what struck me was how many of these book covers were miniature movie posters.

I guess that’s a good thing. They’re both designed to do the same thing: get you interested in the story. But I almost expected “From the Producers of The Maze Runner” to be at the top.

The Problem With Publicly Shaming Breitbart Advertisers is that Some Companies Don’t Realize They Are Breitbart Advertisers

There’s a movement right now where people are publicly shaming advertisers on Breitbart.com, the alt-right website. People are being urged to Tweet to businesses telling them to take down their advertising, unless they want to be associated with the website that once used the headline: “Gabby Giffords: The Gun Control Movement’s Human Shield.”

Here’s the problem: a lot of companies don’t know they are advertising there.

They advertise through Adwords, a Google platform. Like anything Google does, it is focused on the big reach. They want to find as many possible customers for your business as possible. So, they place ads everywhere. You want to advertise your national shoe company? It might wind up on Breitbart. You want to advertise your local lawn maintenance company? It might also wind up on Breitbart.

Adwords lets advertisers choose what websites they don’t want to appear on. However, it is a lot to ask of companies to scour the web and write down every site they disagree with.

Chances are, they just don’t realize their ads are there. So, don’t publicly shame them for something they had no idea about.

I went over to Breitbart when I heard about this public shaming movement. I wanted to see who was advertising there. So, to my surprise, there was a company I do a fair amount of business with. Its founder is of Middle Eastern descent, so I was a bit shocked to see that.

Instead of adding to the Twitstorm, I went to this company’s website and used “Contact Us” to send a quick e-mail letting them know where their ads were, and that it was probably an Adwords issue. I also warned them of the ill-informed backlash that some other companies are getting because of this. They responded in person within hours letting me know they wanted nothing to do with Breitbart and would inform their advertising director right away to fix this.

I understand the desire to fight inflammatory words with other inflammatory words, but in this case, you’d be hurting innocent advertisers in the crossfire. And besides, as the Red Dragon in Bone said, “Never play an ace if a 2 will do.”

Star Wars Needs To Do What Harry Potter Did

Mild Fantastic Beasts spoilers

Both franchises, Harry Potter and Star Wars, recently launched new films that explore more of their respective universes. But there’s a right way to do this and a wrong way.

The right way is “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” This movie introduced all new characters that fit snugly into the Harry Potter world. It felt right, while still being its own movie.

Characters apparate, and the movie doesn’t have to explain to you what’s happening. If you’re here, you already know. There are recognizable names and creatures and spells, and that makes you feel comfortable.

But, there are enough new things that keep it from being more of the same. Yes, we see yet more of muggle vs. magic…again…but we also see what happens to young wizards who are told that their power is evil, and that they should be ashamed of it. We see what happens when power is bottled up, with no healthy outlet. And we see the real world problem of child abuse in a fantasy world.

In short, it gave fans what they wanted, and things they didn’t know they wanted.

Star Wars Episode 7 was two hours of fan service. It didn’t really bring anything new to the saga. There wasn’t a feeling like it was breaking any new ground. It was too safe.

“Rogue One” tells the story of how the plans for the Death Star were found. It’s kind of like a Star Wars Tales comic, where they would tell one-shot stories about some obscure characters or side quests. Again, it might be too safe. You pretty much know how it will begin and how it will end.

Star Wars needs to step outside of its safe zone, and take some chances. If they are committed to making a new one every few years, the creators can’t be afraid of one of them only making $1.5 billion instead of $2 billion.

We don’t need to see a prequel that just tells you how Han Solo got his clothes. (I’m sure they’re going to tell us anyway.) We need to explore these worlds.

Of course, Fantastic Beasts had J.K. Rowling writing the story. She has already mapped out the marriages and children of most of the students at Hogwarts even though we (might) never see these stories. George Lucas seems to be out of the loop on the creative end, and that might make a difference. Some people say a good change, some say a bad change.

Dr. Strange Is What the Green Lantern Movie Should Have Been

Here there be spoilers…

Halfway through the fun cosmic adventure that is Dr. Strange, I realized that the movie followed the same structure as the failed Green Lantern movie:

In the first 15 minutes, we are introduced to the charming but deeply flawed hero. Whereas Green Lantern gave us a likable actor in Ryan Reynolds, Dr. Strange gave us a likable Benedict Cumberbatch. But Dr. Strange gave us something that Green Lantern never did: A reason why the protagonist decided to “protag.” Like the comic book creators say in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, “The question is why.” For Stephen Strange, his why is the same as Tony Stark and Thor Odinson: hubris. We never really get the “why” in Green Lantern. He just found a lantern and figured he’d become a super hero.

 

After the intro, both heroes are indoctrinated into a universe that is greater than the Earth they know. The GL Guardians can easily be substituted with the Ancient One and the rest of the sorcerers. They are a police force that protects Earth from otherworldly threats that the average person is completely unaware of.

They teach the hero how to bend reality to his imagination. They even give him a ring at one point. The hero goes through the stages of adventure, from denial to acceptance, and is soon kicking butt better than those who have trained for years. He faces off against the bad guy, who is just an appetizer for the cosmic, shapeless true evil. And his mentor turns bad.

Despite the parallels, Dr. Strange was a stronger movie. It wasn’t stuffed with characters, just enough to get through. There was only one computer-rendered character, and it was the end villain. Everything was grounded in an internal logic that explained why magic was OK. (And thank you, Marvel, for just saying it was magic, and not science or midi-chlorians or whatever.)

And finally, the fight scenes were unique to the movie. What I mean to say is that the action sequences could have only happened in this movie. In particular, the scene with mystic monks fighting while time is going backward was something I had never seen before and could only be done in this kind of movie.

What I learned: When people say that you can’t do something if it happened in another movie, you still can, if you do it better.

Why Do People Trust News Less Than Politicians?

I’ve been a reporter for more than a dozen years now. I am OK with the fact that people don’t believe everything they read. But I don’t understand how people think politicians are more believable than the media that covers them.

Politicians lie. That’s all there is to it. Every single one of them. I don’t care how wonderful your candidate is, they are a liar. They have lots of reasons to get you to believe what they’re telling you. It all has to do with money and power. And occasionally mistresses. That’s really all they want.

This short satirical video explains it all.

And yet journalists are condemned as biased whenever they point out these shortcomings. In my admittedly short tenure, I have met some reporters who were biased against certain politicians. Some had a David complex, looking for a Goliath to slay. But most of the reporters I know don’t care who is in office as long as they give a good quote. They don’t have a horse in the race. If they are on anybody’s side at all, it’s the taxpayer.

Journalists make mistakes. I have made my share. But one mistake will make people condemn a news source, while politicians can make all the mistakes in the world and be untouchable. Maybe it’s because politicians have more charisma than most journalists. Maybe people just believe what they want to believe. No matter what, I’ll never understand why journalists are trusted less than the politicians they report on.